John_Clarke
New member
I recently serviced two Crewsaver Crewfit lifejackets which were 6 years old and replaced the hydrostatic Hammar inflation devices. Afterwards I tested them by inflating the jackets manual through the mouthpiece. I should have done this every year but they are carefully looked after and other more pressing priorities have meant that it was never done.
You can imagine my dismay when they both went limp within 10 minutes. I re-inflated them and held them under water in the bath to discover one was leaking from the Hammar device and the other was leaking through an area of the bladder. The porous area was about the size of a 5p coin and was clearly a different colour to the rest of the fabric; it was not apparently abraded or damaged in any way. It looked as if the airproof finish was missing on the inside in this area.
All credit to Crewsaver who have repaired both lifejackets free of charge and all within a couple of weeks.
From now on I will inflation test all new lifejackets on purchase and all my lifejackets every spring.
I have since spoken to an RNLI safety advisor about lifejackets. The RNLI use Crewsaver because they are reliable and good quality. On the offshore boats they use the pellet type inflation devices because they are less expensive and easier to service than Hammar devices. They do need to be hung up in a ventilated area when not in use or they can auto-inflate if the humidity gets too high.
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You can imagine my dismay when they both went limp within 10 minutes. I re-inflated them and held them under water in the bath to discover one was leaking from the Hammar device and the other was leaking through an area of the bladder. The porous area was about the size of a 5p coin and was clearly a different colour to the rest of the fabric; it was not apparently abraded or damaged in any way. It looked as if the airproof finish was missing on the inside in this area.
All credit to Crewsaver who have repaired both lifejackets free of charge and all within a couple of weeks.
From now on I will inflation test all new lifejackets on purchase and all my lifejackets every spring.
I have since spoken to an RNLI safety advisor about lifejackets. The RNLI use Crewsaver because they are reliable and good quality. On the offshore boats they use the pellet type inflation devices because they are less expensive and easier to service than Hammar devices. They do need to be hung up in a ventilated area when not in use or they can auto-inflate if the humidity gets too high.
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